The whole story

You blog readers get to see every page of a little wallet book which I have just finished. It has been in progress for a couple of years because I find it difficult to work with green but I got there in the end and it is full of preciousness and tender detail.

For sale!

Just restocked my Etsy shop. I have had little time to make things to sell recently as I have been teaching many many workshops, preparing for Open Studios and of course gardening.
 Link to my shop HERE 

A new display in my studio

This afternoon I have been putting up a display in my studio of a set of new work - appliqués of animals based on a study of staffordshireware china. My daughter did a set of drawings of these and has lent me some of her original cut outs and drawings which I am showing alongside.
I am showing these this weekend for our Open Studios event and then they will be taken down and will not appear again till 2019 when I am going to have an exhibition of them and I hope by then I will have added a few more!

Summer Open Studios, new work

I am sorry I haven't been blogging quite so much recently. The apps for Blogger on my phone and iPad seem to be no longer compatible with Blogger and there doesn't seem to be an update available which means I can only blog now when I sit down at a computer.  I haven't been sewing that much anyway as I have been on the road teaching away from home and in between gardening. After the terrible long winter it has been a perfect Spring to get seeds and the allotment going and it is looking the best I think it ever has. Next weekend we have out Open Studios event and I shall be showcasing my complete collection of appliqués based on Staffordshireware and also the piece below which I have been working on for three or four months on and off. The pictures are not wonderful but I hope it gives you some idea.

A bit Autumnal but one can't help noticing and hearing the birds at the moment. They are so BUSY!

Badger

A sample  for my forthcoming summer school ( fully booked for the last 6 months I am afraid!)

Star

You will be seeing more unique pieces like this appearing in my Etsy shop. I have been a bit despondent recently about copying of my ideas ( this is the downside of teaching I guess) and decided to concentrate more on producing things that are more difficult to copy because of the preciousness of the materials. In the past I have not let these pieces go as I can't repeat them in any way but now is the time to..
This piece which is now on sale with ETSY was inspired by a bunch of purple tulips on my studio.

Garden

Someone has just cancelled their place on my Garden course at The Hearth on 2nd June. If you are interested find full details of the course HERE .

Just Let It Be

This old darned sack which I bought from Fabienne ( Dumasiennes you know who I mean) has been sitting in my studio for some time. I was going to add my own patching, darning and monogram but looking at my photos I realise my message is there - just let it BE....

Log Cabin

My mother's little cross stitch of a log cabin quilt incorporated into a collage on a real fragment of log cabin.

Staffordshire Ware

Here are some new appliqués I have been working on. They are based on my daughter's drawings of china figurines. I have loved doing these.

March Hare

Something with a hint of Spring on my desk this morning .

Colour

The snow has kept me in and forced me to work on a Power Point Presentation that I will present as a lecture at the Quilters Guild AGM in April. It is good to look back through photos to remind oneself of the journey you have travelled. This is a detail of the bottom of a quilt that is on a double page spread in my book .I love combining bits of different quilts and using colour. I just get bored when I try to use neutral palettes and red creeps frequently in to everything. Makes me want to go back to doing simple pieces which are all about colour and texture.

Mrs Bartlett

Using an appliqué quilt by Mrs Bartlett 1860 as inspiration for some appliqué designs of my own. Reconnecting with my surface pattern past.

Still cross stitching

Still exploring mixing up cross stitch in to my textile collages. Find the filling in parts ever so slightly boring!

Old and green

Pretty collage , all greens  and using some really fragile silk embroidered fragments, a little bit of tapestry, old quilt. I have echoed the fragile flowers by embroidering some of my own. All the usual favourite ingredients and in my 2018 resolution to let more go now available in my Etsy shop!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/578152926/textile-collage-unframed?ref=pr_shop

Slippers

These are so much nicer for being old and worn.

its in the detail

so as requested by many of you close ups of the pieces featured in the last post. They are about 8 ins square.